Ministry of Defence
Steps Taken To Enhance Capacity of Security Forces
The Government has taken several policy initiatives and reforms to promote indigenous design, development and manufacture of defence equipment in the country and enable development or transfer of technologies in the country.
The salient steps undertaken to achieve self sufficiency in defence sector are as under:-
i. Defence Procurement Procedure -2016 has been revised as Defence Acquisition Procedure  -2020, which is driven by the tenets of Defence Reforms announced as part of ‘Atmanirbhar Bharat Abhiyan’.
ii. Opened North & South Defence Industrial corridors to promote setting up of industries supporting defence equipment.
iii. Permitted acceptance of “Suo Moto” proposals from industry for undertaking indigenous design & development for items needed for defence services.
iv. Formulated the iDEX  framework to provide an ecosystem for Startups/individual innovators/MSMEs to engage with Ministry of Defence/Academia and other such agencies for manufacture of defence related items.
v. Institutionalised the Technology Development Fund and its processes to facilitate the DRDO to engage with Indian industry for technology development needs.
vi. Army Design Bureau : Indian Army  launched the ADB on 31st August, 2016. The role of the ADB is to act as a facilitator for research & development efforts and procurement of indigenously developed weapons and equipment extensive outreach programme for industry, MSMEs, Startups and Academia across the country for promoting ‘Make in India’. The outreach programmes, apart from generating awareness about the modernization requirements, will help to meet the technology needs of the IA from within the confines of domestic resources and talent
vii. Army Technology Board : The ATB enables indigenous Research and Development efforts in accordance with the operational needs of the IA.
viii. Technology Development Fund : TDF has been launched by the Government to giving impetus to research and development projects beyond the proof of concept stage. It has been provided with a budget of Rs. 100 crores.
ix. The Indian Navy in coordination with Aeronautical Development Agency  is pursuing the indigenous development and acquisition of a Twin Engine Deck Base Fighter .
x. Ministry of Defence has notified a ‘First Positive Indigenisation List’ of 101 items for which there would be an embargo on the import beyond the timeline indicated against them. This is a big step towards self-reliance in defence. This would offer a great opportunity to the Indian defence industry to manufacture these items using their own design and development capabilities to meet the requirements of the Armed Forces in the coming years.
Modernisation, upgradation and sustenance of military equipment and weapons is a continuous process and constant endeavour to equip the Armed Forces with modern weapon systems/ equipment being carried out under various procurement provisions . Also in emergencies as in the prevailing situation, special procurement powers to enhance the operational capability are given to Service Headquarters.
DRDO has played a major role in the development of state-of-the-art platforms, weapon systems and sensors and upgradation of defence equipment in the country which in turn has enhanced capacity of the Armed Forces to tackle the present security scenario of the country efficiently.
This information was tabled in a written reply by Raksha Rajya Mantri Shri Shripad Naik to a question asked by Shri Vijay Pal Singh Tomar and Shri Harnath Singh Yadav in Rajya Sabha today.
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